Adjusting to a New Reality

Less than a month before the War ended, a shrapnel wound to the head blinded Alfred Corey.

While still recovering at St Dunstans Hostel in London, Alfred met Elsie Mumford, who used to read to the patients. The couple fell in love, married, moved to Christchurch and went on to have four children.

Courtesy of Justin Corey. All Rights Reserved

Initially left for dead, the stretcher bearers changed their minds and decided he might be able to recover. He spent 4 years in hospital learning how to cope with his disability.

Alfred trained as a poultry farmer while in hospital and set up a poultry farm in Christchurch upon his return. His family remembers that Alfred had an innate sense of space; he was just as fast at catching chickens as everyone else. Although life was challenging, Alfred sometimes felt he got off lightly. To him, losing a limb would have been far worse than losing sight.